Working at Proctor is a lifestyle, not a job. Students arrive at Proctor having been shaped and molded by their own families, and our role as a boarding school is to build upon that foundation. Each year, we recognize those faculty and staff who are retiring or moving on from Proctor after more than 20 years of service. This year, six employees fit that category, with their combined service totaling 171 years of service to Proctor! They, alongside other departing faculty and staff, have shaped countless lives and have shaped the culture of this school we all love. As we bid farewell to this year’s group of retiring and departing educators, we know their impact on Proctor will live on in future generations of employees and students.
Sue Houston | Science Department | 1989-2025
During one of our final assemblies of the school year, Science Department colleague Lynne Bartlett demonstrated Sue’s remarkable impact on Proctor students by stapling all of Sue’s gradebooks together into one long train. It stretched up one side of the meeting house stairs and down the other. Literally thousands of students took Chemistry with Sue and each had the trajectory of their lives changed as she helped science come alive for them. Sue embodies what it means to teach at Proctor; she cares deeply, supports tirelessly, uses real issues to help content make sense, and she never, ever stops challenging those around her to grow. Thank you, Sue, for committing your professional life to Proctor students and to our school. We are so much better because you came into, and stayed, in our lives.
James Cox | Information Technology | 1990-2024 (December)
As Steve Wilkins joked at end of year meetings, when James Cox arrived at Proctor, our technology systems consisted of two Campbell soup cans and a string. Starting as a Mountain Classroom instructor, James and his wife, Lynn (who retired last summer), immersed themselves in life on campus - teaching, coaching, creating and running the technology department, and serving as dorm parents. Alongside their sons, Ben ‘13 and Will ‘16, James and Lynn grew with Proctor and served as invaluable pieces of the mosaic of Proctor over the last four decades. Their deep care for students, appreciation for the role systems play in sustaining a community, and the intricacies of stewarding and sustaining a school culture will be deeply missed.
Michael Littman | Theater and Learning Skills Departments | 1999-2025
Michael’s time at Proctor started before 1999 as he and his wife, Terry Stoecker, directed shows and were involved in Proctor’s theater department. When Michael joined the community full-time, he threw himself, his talents, his sense of humor, and his vast life experiences on stage into the Proctor theater department. Over the last decade, he shifted his focus and energy to supporting students in Proctor’s Learning Skills Department. As Reagan ‘26 shared during one of our final assemblies of the year, Michael’s impact on students was often quiet, in a 1:1 setting, but each and every student left a conversation knowing that he believed in them. What a gift to give young people! Thank you, Michael, for all you have given to Proctor and to our students over the last 26 years.
David and Jennifer Fleming | Arts and European Art Classroom | 2001-2025
It is nearly impossible to separate the impact of Dave and Jen Fleming into two separate paragraphs for this blog. They arrived at Proctor in 2001 with two young children, Truman ‘11 and Elliot ‘12, and immediately jumped into life on campus with both feet. Whether it was dorm parenting in Carr House and Peabody Dorm, coaching football, teaching art, or boldly creating and running Proctor’s European Art Classroom program for the last 17 years, Dave and Jen lived and breathed Proctor, all while nurturing their own creative sides through their own art.
As Dave wrote in a note to colleagues this spring, “With full and grateful hearts, Jen and I wish to thank Proctor for the extraordinary tapestry of life we’ve woven here over the past 24 years. This community has been our home, our anchor, and our inspiration—a place where our sons grew up wild and free, their laughter echoing through the woods, their spirits soaring over snowy hills, Elbow Pond, inventing adventures and memories that will last a lifetime…As we prepare to set out on this next adventure, we do so with deep gratitude and abiding love for this place and its people. Proctor was, and always will be, the best home we could have hoped for. The current is shifting, and we are ready to follow where it leads, hearts full of hope and memories. Thank you, from the very bottom of our hearts. We love you all.” No, Dave and Jen, thank you. Thank you for imagining what “could be” for an off-campus program, for caring so deeply about the role art should play in young people’s lives, and for exposing our students to the joys of travel and exploration. We will miss you, and hope you know you will always be a part of “us”.
Matt MacKenzie | Math Department | 2001-2025
Some faculty make an impact in a public way while others do so quietly, through consistently showing up and finding ways to shape and nurture Proctor’s culture through their actions. For the past 24 years, Matt MacKenzie has done the latter through teaching math, dorm parenting, advising, coaching Woods Team, and sharing his passions with students through Project Period. His consistency, creativity, hard work, and stewardship of core areas of Proctor alongside his wife, Annie, and daughters Sasha ‘22 and Braeden ‘24, have left an indelible impact on our school. Not all heroes wear capes, some wear Carhartts, flannel and carry a chainsaw. Thank you, Matt, for all you have given to Proctor!
Additional Departing Faculty
Joan Saunders | Learning Skills and Theater Departments | 2008-2025
Geoff Sahs | History Department, Crew | 2017-2025
Bill O’Brien | Math Department | 2019-2025
Ben Rulli | Admissions and Football | 2019-2025 (Jan)
Charley Stern | Theater and English Departments | 2022-2025
Ashley D’Emic | Admissions and Girls Lacrosse | 2024-2025
Sarah and Steve Wilkins | Learning Skills Department / Interim Head of School | 2024-2025
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